Friends of the Glen

With our uniforms on and game drive vehicles at the ready, we're a team of well educated and experienced rangers who watch over the wildlife at the lodge and ensure that all guests and visitors have the most interesting bushveld experience possible. With so much wildlife and flora and fauna at the lodge, it's never a quiet day as there's always an animal to watch, something to learn or game drives to do. Every day we get to celebrate the wild, and we'd like to share and celebrate it with you.

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

The saying "Another boring day at the office" couldn't be more further from the truth here at Glen Afric. As a ranger I come into the reception every morning to get my schedule for the day and on this particular morning was greeted by what I could only think was a large rat nibbling at my feet. Now at Glen Afric I'm prone to seeing all sorts of animals - wild and tame, but this 'rat' in particular caused me to jump back. Luckily, before getting a hold of pest control, the 'rat' turned out to be a meerkat - and a cute one at that.

It turns out to be my friend Alessia's animal - she's another ranger on the farm. And this little 'rat' goes by the name of Tequila. He may be small but he now forms part of the Glen Afric family; another addition to make the day at the office that much more enjoyable. On my off duty today, when I was not giving elephant walks or game drives, I spent the time running around trying to find this little guy. Whether he's trying to nibble chips off my plate, scratch through my bag or become friends with the guests, Tequila is certainly a busy body - our own little speedy gonzales on Redbull.

He spends his days jumping out of Alessia's car, trying to fight with the lions through the car window (in this case his bark is much bigger then his bite) and sneaking up on guests whilst giving them a panic attack. After which, most of them are thrilled to be delegated as baby sitter.

So with this little speedy gonzales on board making our days at the office more fun, we're going to add him to the list of animal activities offered along side elephant walks and game drives - you'll be able to have meerkat interaction and we won't have to pay you baby sitting fees.

Thursday, 21 March 2013

It’s been a busy few months at the lodge... our babies are
growing, we have a new addition to our Glen Afric animal family and there is
certainly love in the air.

We’ve watched our tiny little treasure Sheba grow into a lioness over the last 8 months. Every day we see
her boisterous and friendly personality come to life, and every day she shows
great potential and willingness to become an actress. Luckily, her white
lioness best friend, Flora, prefers
her to take the spotlight. I took Sheba
on her first lion walk on the 8 of March, with 3 volunteers, into the back
mountain area of the game farm. Such a big step for such a little lion!

Whilst Sheba is taking big steps, on the opposite side of the
farm, Marty and Hannah – aged 5 years now – have learnt quite a few lessons from
their mother, Three. She’s taught
them what vegetation they are able to eat and how to be behave, on most
occasions. I still see the two young elephants still breast feeding from her at
this age, but we all know that Three has a few more parental skills up her
trunk. Being still young at heart, Marty
and Hannah find bathing in our dam a
game of excitement and fun. For me, it’s a delight to watch! I see them rolling
around, climbing on each other and spraying water in every direction from their
trunks, whilst Three keeps one eye on
them and occasionally can’t help herself joining in on the fun.

The staff , rangers and I are delighted to welcome our newest addition to our ever growing family –baby Jo, the hippopotamus. She was born on the 23 of January 2013 and as we are unsure if it's a boy or a girl yet, we've safely named it Jo - as if it's a boy he'll be named Jonathan and if it's a girl we'll call her Joanne. Some of the rangers and I have watched Jo playing around with mom and dad (Modjaji and Mampoer) in one of our three dams. So Sheba is growing, Jo is enjoying time with mom and dad and
on the other side of the game farm, we have enjoyed viewing the relationship
between Charles and Camilla. I have witnessed their unique
love affair on many occasions – unique being because Charles is a kudu bull and Camilla
is a giraffe. With Charles having a
very impressive set of horns which any female kudu would look twice at, and Camilla our not so baby giraffe reaching
new heights with her long legs – this unlikely combination shows that their
romance sees no colour, shape or specie. Although Valentines Day has been and
gone, I can still feel the love in the air.

Yes, it’s been a busy few months bushing around and we’ll be sure
to keep you posted on Sheba, Jo, Charles,
Camilla, Marty, Hannah, Three and the rest of the gang at Glen
Afric.